Telematics units within mobile vehicles provide subscribers with connectivity to a telematics service provider (TSP). The TSP provides the subscriber with an array of services ranging from emergency call handling and stolen vehicle recovery to diagnostics monitoring and turn-by-turn navigation. Telematics units are often provisioned and activated at a point of sale when a subscriber purchases a telematics-equipped vehicle. Upon activation, the telematics unit can be utilized to provide a subscriber with the telematics services.
An increasing number of states within the United States, as well as an increasing number of countries around the world, have passed legislation banning the use of handheld cell phones within vehicles. The use of “Hands-free” calling, where a driver uses an accessory or speakerphone to allow them to keep both hands free during the call, is still generally legal in vehicles. However, it is further desirable, even for drivers using hands-free calling accessories with their handheld phones, to be able to avoid looking down at their phones to look for or type in numbers or receive calls.
Thus, it is an object in part to provide a system and method for efficiently allowing drivers to continue to initiate and receive phone calls within their vehicles, utilizing a telematics unit connected to the vehicle rather than their handheld phones. However, while this is an object underlying certain implementations of the invention, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to systems that solve the problems noted herein. Moreover, the inventors have created the above body of information for the convenience of the reader and expressly disclaim all of the foregoing as prior art; the foregoing is a discussion of problems discovered and/or appreciated by the inventors, and is not an attempt to review or catalog the prior art.